The most memorable moments of LOTR include Gollem [sp?]. what an amazing feat!
That scene in Towers where his ring side is arguing with himself was done so well that I wanted to laugh after about 10 seconds of the long part but it was just so good I was in pure awe. Smiegel is certainly the most memorable character in Towers.
Sabine,
I thought it had a racist feeling to it, all the "good" people were depicted as white, the elves, galadriel, long blond hair, whiter than white....the bad people where dark skinned, swarthy, the orks (sp), etc.
Jackson's rendition was very true to Tolkien's vision. Tolkien thouroughly rejected alegories and there was certainly no alegorical racial connection in Rings. The only suspicion I think is even plausible is that the Hobbits were depicted as Irish, but that isnt racist IMO, further their size suggests they are leprechauns, another mythological character based on the Irish folklore so them seeming Irish would only be natural. Keep in mind the Orks/Uruk-Hai are elves that were mutilated, so they are also white, just decaying and mishapen and in the case of the Uruk they are fashioned out of Orks. The Rings Wraiths are cloked in Black. It is a long standing tradition in storytelling that shadowey figures represent evil. It is true that the Orks were more like the Ring Wraiths in the books, lacking the detail but if you notice many of the Orks were green and yellowish gray. They were also slimy and has very disfigured faces that appeared cat/dog like in the case of the Uruk-Hai.
If someone has issue with all the races of Middle Earth being Norther European Caucasoid then remember it was written to stand as English Mythology. Middle Earth is England.
In contrast the new Star Wars films are very racist. At the very least - My first impression of the trade federations personnel was heavily Asiatic.